The invention relates to a specimen carrier supply and delivery device having at least one specimen carrier magazine with separate compartments for receiving interchangeably specimen carriers and a magazine lift, which is adjustable in height in a magazine carrier frame for receiving interchangeably specimen carrier magazines.
Devices of this type are known in different designs. They serve to provide prepared specimen carriers of various types, in particular, for an automatic analysis in a microscope. The microscope and the device with the specimen carriers are generally separate units that have to be carefully aligned with one another, in order to guarantee a reliable transfer of the specimen carriers from one unit to the other and back again. Just a slight misalignment while an automatic analysis is running may lead to an interruption in the examination process and, thus, to time delays in the entire course of the process. Maintaining a reliable transfer position becomes very difficult with microscopes that have a vertical stage adjustment for focusing the objectives on the specimen (object) plane. However, even with microscopes that have stationary microscope stages, such as inverted microscopes, problems may arise in the course of connecting to stages of fixed different heights as well as with respect to the jolts and vibrations that may occur at the place where the two units are set up, so that the two units may shift with respect to each other.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a universally usable specimen carrier supply and delivery device, which can be connected to different microscope systems and can automatically compensate for the mutual changes in height between the delivery plane and the removal plane from an initial adjustment.
Exemplary embodiments of the invention achieve this engineering object with a specimen carrier supply and delivery device having at least one specimen carrier magazine with separate compartments for receiving interchangeably specimen carriers and a magazine lift, which is adjustable in height in a magazine carrier frame for receiving interchangeably specimen carrier magazines. Two pairs of bars, which stand vertically and parallel to one another, are arranged in the magazine carrier frame, wherein the magazine lift is guided in a height adjustable manner on the two complementary first bars of the bar pairs. An equal-sided coupling frame, which is aligned vertically to the plane formed by the first bars, with a bridge, which is arranged parallel to the plane, is mounted in a sliding manner on the two complementary second bars of the pairs of bars. A linear scale, which is aligned parallel to the direction of the bars, is fastened to the magazine lift. A sensor for reading the position of the coupling frame relative to the linear scale is disposed on the sliding mounting of the coupling frame. A carrier element, which is aligned transversely to the direction of the bars and is configured for a linear motor with a spindle for adjusting the height of the magazine lift relative to the current position of the sensor, is arranged on the magazine carrier frame.
Two planes that are essential for operating the device can be moved parallel to each other at the vertical pairs of bars that are arranged in the magazine carrier frame. These planes are the plane of the specimen carriers in the compartments of the specimen carrier magazines and the plane, formed by the right-angled coupling frame, which is mounted in a sliding manner and has a bridge. The bridge is provided to be fastened to a microscope stage, so that the coupling frame with the bridge forms a reference plane that is fixed with respect to the plane of the microscope stage. The sliding mounting of the coupling frame guarantees an effortless coupling to different and also changing planes of the microscope stage. The vertical bars can be constructed in different ways for the linear guidance. The compartments in the specimen carrier magazines can be adapted to various forms of specimen carriers, such as rectangular specimen slides with a glass cover, Petri dishes, or titer plates. Due to the equal-sided configuration of the coupling frame the specimen carrier magazines can always be moved up and down equidistant to the lateral boundary of the microscope stage when coupling a microscope stage to the bridge.
Their relative position to each other can be determined with the aid of the linear scale, which is fastened to the magazine lift, and the sensor, which is arranged on the coupling frame that is mounted in a sliding manner. In order to transfer the specimen carriers from the specimen carrier magazine to the microscope stage, the respective height adjustment of the coupling frame forms the reference plane. The magazine lift can be moved relative to the reference position of the coupling frame by means of the linear motor, fastened to the magazine carrier frame, and the spindle, which is moved thereby. Therefore, when the distance between the compartments in the specimen carrier magazine is known, it is possible to make available for removal each desired specimen carrier in the transfer plane, determined during an initial adjustment, relative to the reference plane.
The sensor, which is fastened to the coupling frame, is mounted at a height, at which it is possible to read the linear scale both in the highest position and in the lowest transfer position of the specimen carrier magazines. At the same time it is also necessary to consider a tolerance range for adapting to different heights of the coupling to a microscope stage. In order to be able to keep this tolerance range and with it the height of the magazine carrier frame and the length of the linear scale as small as possible, it is advantageous to insert the magazine carrier frame with its vertical frame members into a stand at different discrete heights that provide the necessary tolerance range for the height adjustment of the coupling frame. The insertion into a stand is advantageous especially for bridging greater height differences, as in the case of tripods of inverted microscopes.
A known system for removing the specimen carriers from the compartments of a specimen carrier magazine provides a gripper, which elastically pushes the specimen carriers against a pressure plate for removal and for transport. In order to deposit in a compartment when the specimen carrier is moved back, this specimen carrier has to be removed from the pressure plate. To this end, a liftable traverse comprising pins that point vertically upwards can be disposed in the coupling frame parallel to the bridge. The pins are dimensioned and positioned in such a way that they can be moved up into the gripper behind a specimen carrier; and, as the gripper is refracted, the pins can remove the specimen carrier from the pressure plate, so that the specimen carrier stays in the compartment.
A manually movable specimen carrier carriage can be mounted preferably on the coupling frame parallel to the bridge. If the magazine lift is moved high enough, the specimen carrier carriage can be pushed under the specimen carrier magazines into a suitable transfer position for the specimen carriers located therein. The height of the loading plane for the specimen carriers into the specimen carrier carriage is adapted to the reference plane formed by the coupling frame in such a way that it coincides with the transfer plane adjusted for a specimen carrier magazine.
An additional advantageous embodiment of the device consists of arranging a frame projection, which extends over the specimen carrier magazines, on the magazine carrier frame. Rollers, pointing towards the open compartments of the specimen carrier magazines, are mounted on the resilient lever arms. The lever arms are tilted towards the specimen carriers, which possibly protrude from the compartments of the specimen carrier magazines in such a way that when the magazine lift moves up and down, the specimen carriers are pushed uniformly into the compartments. This arrangement guarantees that repeatable gripping positions are provided for a handling system for removal of the specimen carriers.
In order to compensate for the weight of the coupling frame and the additional add-on components, it may be advantageous to arrange also a prestressed rewind spring band, the free end of which is fastened to the coupling frame, on the frame projection. As a result, a tilting of the coupling frame and/or jamming of the guide elements of the coupling frame on the bars in the magazine carrier frame is and/or are counteracted.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of one or more preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.